The Mist
by ggwweenn1
Summary: This is an entirely OC AU, all characters being based off my schools PJ fan club.
1. The Bird Woman

Even if I hadn't been running late, tripping over a two headed snake still wouldn't have made my day. I looked at it and my eyes grew wide. I had seen a lot of weird things in my life but a two headed snake was new. Not knowing how to deal with it I turned on my heel and ran to catch my bus. I slipped on just as the doors were closing and fell into my seat.

"Uh you're kinda on top of me." A girl said sassily. She had straight brown hair and neon yellow sunglasses hiding her eyes.

"So sorry!" I said pushing off her. I hopped across the bus aisle and sat in an empty seat. I grabbed a lock of short my fire red hair between my fingers and looked at the tips, which I had recently dyed blue. I swept my hair into a ponytail and directed my attention out the window. We pulled to a stop and I felt someone sit next to me. I turned to see my friend Frankie next to me. We did our handshake and got comfortable in our seats.

"Hey. Who's the new girl?" She asks. I shrug.

"I sat on top of her when I got on the bus. She seemed kinda sassy I guess." I said, putting in my headphones. I started having a little mix session with Ed Sheeran in my head as we continued through the city to our school.

Our school was a rather large prep school. It catered to everyone in the District who could afford to get out of the public system but not into the pre-ivy system. Its official name was Jonathan Heathrow Preparatory, but everyone called it J.H. Prep. It was ok I guess. The teachers were chill and there was a club for everything. Their weren't any bomb threats or issues with drugs so it was relatively safe.

The bus stopped in front of the five story brick building with a hiss. I slung my backpack over my shoulders and trudged off the bus. Frankie walked beside me silently, because we were both exhausted. I turned looked behind me instinctively, watching my back had become a habit. I saw that the sassy girl with the shades from the bus was right behind us. I looked forward and climbed the stairs.

i split off from Frankie and headed to my first class, cooking. I turned and saw that shades girl was still behind me. I slipped into my seat beside my friend Kirby just as the bell rang.

"Hello Students." Miss Nicola said in her squawking manner. "We have a new student joining us today. Please welcome Valerie Kil-kiltch- Valerie K." She squawked, not being able to sound out shades girls name.

"Sup." She said. High fiving one of the kids on her way to an empty seat on the back of the room.

"Today we will be making meat pies!" Miss Nicola said. "Right after I see the new girl and miss Hollaman in the hall." She said. I stood, slightly confused. I wandered out into the hallway, Valerie right behind me.I held the door open and closed it when Valerie was in the hall. Then I noticed that Miss Nicolo wasn't in the hall with us. Instead was a half woman, half bird thing. I stumbled back.

Valerie however was unfazed. She reached behind her back and pulled out something long and brass. With a flick of her wrist it became twice as long and twice as sharp.

"Go in there and grab your nerd friend, Elise. I'll take care of this." She said with a nod at the bird lady. I wasn't going to argue with the girl with the switch, so I stepped back into the classroom and closed the door.

"Elise. I need you out in the hall for just a quick second." I said. She looked up from her random calculations and blinked at me.

"What why? Are you in trouble?" She asked. Putting down her pencil and standing.

"Um just a bit. You just need to come out here right now." I said becoming a bit nervous. She shrugged and came up to the front of the room. I opened the door and... nothing. All that was left of the bird lady was a feather slowly drifting down to the floor. Before it could touch however, Valerie snatched it up and tucked it, along with her knife, into the waistband of her jeans.

"Ok, Kirby should be meeting us outside with the others." Valerie said. Turning on her heel. "Come on. We don't want to keep her waiting." She said, breaking into a run. Me and Elise chased after her.


	2. We steal a school bus

We caught up with her, a little out of breath outside the front door. She was standing with Frankie, Tiger and some blonde girl. Tiger is chill. He is very passionate about stuff and really likes to act. He is just like cool, nuff said. I suppose that Blonde girl was probably Kirby.

"Guys isn't this exciting?" Tiger said. I shrugged.

"I don't know what's going on but I guess." I said. He laughed.

"Neither do I, but it's an adventure and that's exciting." He said. I shrugged.

"I guess so." I said. I looked over to Valerie to see her inside the hood of a school bus. I heard the engine of the bus start and she shut the hood. She went to the door and pressed the button to open it. She turned and beckoned us over.

"Hop in losers, we're going shopping." She said with a grin. Kirby rolled her eyes.

"We aren't going shopping Valerie. We have work to do." Kirby said. Valerie huffed.

"It's a movie quote, don't get all worked up. I'm still driving though." She said, hopping into the drivers seat. We all climbed onto the bus after her. We all sat towards the front, two to a seat.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive?Remember last time you drove?" Kirby said. Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Pfft, don't worry I have been practicing." She said, putting the bus in drive.

Tiger stared Valerie as she adjusted herself in her seat.

"Is this legal?" He asked. She ficked her shades onto her eyes dramatically.

"Yeah, I made myself a licences and an ID two days ago. No worries."

"That's reassuring." Elise said with a nervous laugh. Valerie put her foot on the gas, and surprisingly we started away from the school at a reasonable city speed of 40 .mph. We derived relatively safely until we got to the Potomac River.

"Um, it looks like we are going to drive into the river." Frankie stated. Valerie waved her comment away.

"I got it covered. Don't doubt me." She said. We got closer and closer to the river without any slowing or signs of stopping.

"Val, I really think you should slow down." Kirby said. Valerie laughed as we were suddenly only 60 feet from the bank, 50 feet, 30 feet. Everyone was sitting stone still with baited breath.

When we were twenty feet from the bank Valerie started spinning the wheel. We all screamed. We teetered on the side wheels, and for a second it seemed like we were going to fall. Then the other side crashed down onto the pavement with a bounce.

"Ok children. Get off the bus." She said, opening the drivers side window.

"Why don't we just use the door." I asked. She laughed.

"Cause we are right up against the guardrail. Silly goose." She hopped out the window and landed nimbly on the ground. When she noticed none of us had followed, she turned around and waved us over with a grin.

"C'mon idiots, don't just stand there, places to go, people to see." Kirby jumped out first, I followed. Then came Tiger, Elise and Frankie.

"Kay so here is the plan. We all jump into the river, right? Then Kirby takes us to the boat with her water powers and we all float back to camp." Valerie said. We all looked questioningly at her. "Go ahead, jump in." She said. When nobody did she sighed. She picked Elise up over her shoulder and tossed her into the river. Kirby wrapped her arm around frankies waist and pulled her over the guardrail.

"What the hell!" I yelled at her. Valerie looked like I was yelling at her for breathing.

"Well they had to get in the water sometime. Am I going to have to throw you guys in too?" She said.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Tiger said, jumping over the rail into the water ten feet below. This was completely insane, but when Valerie turned and stared at me with her hands on her hips and a warning look, I figured I should jump too. I climbed onto the guardrail, glanced back one more time, then plunged into the water below.

I found myself floating underwater, my head in a bubble of air. Around me was everyone who had already jumped. I heard a splash above me and suddenly Valerie was with us.

"Take it away Kirbs!" She said. Kirby laughed, well not really. She blew a little more air out her nose than normal.

"Ok." And with that the water moved around us. I could feel it moving around my legs. Sometimes a bit of seaweed would touch me but whatever. Then, after like 5 minutes we stopped. I looked up and saw we were under the open body of a boat.

"Ok guys, just swim up." Kirby said. She said. I kicked and headed up, when my head broke the surface I was perfectly dry. I looked around the cabin of the boat. Everyones heads were bobbing near mine, but otherwise the boat looked pretty normal. There was a guy taking a nap in a chair.

"Mind lending a girl a hand?" Valerie shouted. The guy woke up, falling out of his chair. He rushed over to the water, grabbing Valerie's arms and pulling her into the ship. He was a little under average height, and his brown hair was cut short and slicked up in the front. He had a tan, dark brown eyes and a bright smile to tie it all together. He and Valerie pulled the rest of us out of the water, and much to my surprise, we were dry.

"How are we dry?" I asked, rather sceptic of the weird shit that had happened today Not that I was complaining, but this was seriously weird.

"Ok, story time. Austin close the hatch and get the register. Kirby start us on our way home." Valerie said. Austin and Kirby nodded. Kirby climbed up a ladder and out of sight. Austin went over to a table, pressed a few buttons and grabbed a rather large book. As the floor closed up, chairs started to descend from the ceiling. "Have a seat." She said, sitting herself down. Frankie, Elise, Tiger Austin and I all sat down and waited for her to start.

"Ok so the reason we can do cool shit is because we are demigods. Like one parent is mortal, one parent is a Greek God. This book is a magic list of demigods. It has their mortal parent, their godly parent, their location, and their age. But, it only has demigods that haven't been to camp yet and are still under 18." She said. I looked around, still really confused.

"So y'all ready to find out your immortal mommies and daddies?" She said. Nobody spoke up. "Great ok. So we have Rebecca Hollamon, daughter of Iris; Elise Carmichael, daughter of Pallas; Francesca Vertucci, daughter of Athena; and Tiger Hanback, son of Hecate." She closed the book and passed it back to Austin, who put it away.

"This will all be explained better when we get to Camp Half-Blood, the safe haven for demigods. Oh, and just so you know, I am a daughter of Hermes, Austin is a son of Ares, and Kirby is a daughter of Poseidon. We will be at camp in like ten minutes." She finished, getting up and stretching. Me and my friends just looked at each other. Finally tiger spook up.

"This is so cool! Do we get any special powers?" He said. Valerie looked at him over her sunglasses.

"Sure, you will probably get some cool magic spell shit. Frankie and Elise will be super smart. Rebecca may get like telekinesis or something. I don't really know it depends on the person and the parent." She said. "Now me Austin and kirby have to go write up a mission report, so you guys just chill down here." She walked over to the ladder, Austin trailing behind her. She climbed out of the cabin, leaving me and my friends alone in the cabin.

"So gang... How do we feel about this?" Frankie said awkwardly. I shrugged.

"I guess it is kinda cool. We are special, we get cool powers and we are together. What more could we ask for?" I said. Elise nodded. We all became lost in our own thoughts as we moved more and more north.

All of a sudden Valerie jumped down from the deck and landed, catlike in the cabin.

"We're docking at Camp half-blood now. Get yo asses up on deck to meet the other kiddies!"


	3. A Surprise Vacation With The Sun

**All girls Catholic boarding school? How about no. I guess it is one of the trials that comes with being rich. My dad is Richard Inman, a very wealthy southern land owner, my mother is a retired broadway actress who is now a vocal coach. They met at a fashion show and hit it off immediately. It was one of those love at first sight deals, just one that lasted. They have been married for 15 years. A++ at staying faithful guys.  
I looked in the mirror to make sure my uniform was wrinkle free and my hair had no flyaways and headed out of my dorm. Our uniforms were flexible. You just had to wear "the St. Agnes colors". Our school colors include all shades of red and pink, and all ((50)) shades of grey. We had a dress code too, but I don't follow that so It doesn't matter.  
I walked towards the chapel at a leisurely pace, knowing I was already late. I was always late for chapel. It was ok though because I have detention after school everyday from now until eternity anyway.  
I knocked on the large carved wooden doors loudly and they swung open for me. The entire school was staring at me, not like it mattered. I walked in, my black boots not making a sound on the carpeted floor, and slid into my seat next to my roommate, Gwenyth.  
Gwenyth, while she didn't have the perfect family, did have it made. Her dad walked out on her and her mom before she was even born, but her mom did marry this hot rich guy when she was like 4. Her stepdad treats her like a princess. We had been friends since we were in grade school together. I can't count how many times we have spent a weekend in NYC or a break tanning (more like burning for her) in Cabo. We were practically inseparable.  
"You gotta stop being late." She whispered. She was kinda afraid to break the rules because her mom really hated getting calls from the school. My parents were super lax about everything so I could do whatever I wanted as long as it didn't get expelled.  
"As I was saying before Miss Inman entered, we have a few guest on campus today, so I expect you all to act in a manner suitable for young ladies. That is the only announcement for today. You all may go." The pastor said. Well that was short. I stood up, straightening my red and black floral dress. I slung my bag over my shoulder. Me and Gwenyth left the chapel, heading towards breakfast when somebody caught my eye.  
"Grandpa?" I said, turning to the left. The man nodded and opened up his arms and smiled. I ditched all decorium and ran over to my granddad. He looked to be about fifty something, with blond hair mixed with strands of white, deep smile lines at the corner of his eyes and a clean shaven face. Mom always told me that Granddad was a god, but I stopped believing that story years ago.I gave him a big hug and breathed in his scent. He smelled like sunshine and laurels.  
"How you doing kiddo? Staying out of trouble?" He asked, holding me at arms length and looking me over.  
"I try, but trouble always seems to find me." I say with a shrug. He laughed.  
"I can understand that." He said. "Well, I'm here to take you and your friend out." He said, getting to the question I hadn't asked.  
"Who Gwenyth?" I asked.  
"Yup. I got some serious stuff to talk to you girls about." He said. I shrugged. I turned back to where Gwenyth was standing, waiting for me. I gestured her over. She walked over to me and Granddad.  
"What's going on?" She asked. I shrugged.  
"My granddad is taking us out for the day to talk about serious business. I promise you won't get in trouble." I said fluttering my eyelashes. She rolled her eyes.  
"Fine, but I want breakfast."**


	4. Donuts With My Not Grandpa

**Gwen**

We drove away from the Monster Donut in grandpa Pollo's golden yellow sports car, each hold a glazed confection. We drove, talking about how nice it was for January. The sun was shining and it was a good seventy degrees, super weird for the Georgia coast. We drove until we reached a little beach with super soft sand and not a person in sight.

"So that serious stuff you wanted to talk about?" I said after swallowing the last bite of my third donut. He nodded and cut the engine.

"First order of business, I'm not your grandfather." He said, completely serious. I laughed.

"What you're just some like family friend?" I asked.

"In a way. You see, the women of your family have been host to the spirit of Delphi, or oracle of Delphi for many generations." He said. I bit my lip, trying to remember what Delphi was.

"Delphi the Greek oracle? Kkkkkk Next you're going to tell me you and Gwenyth are gods sent to watch over me." I said with a chuckle. They looked at me. "You are? Really? Like WTF? Prove it!" I said. 'Grandpa' shrugged. He rubbed his hands together, and when he spread them out, he was holding two twin balls of flame.

"I'm Apollo, Greek God of a ton of stuff. I am God of music, poetry, drama and the sun." He gestured to Gwenyth. "Gwenyth is my daughter. She has been watching over you for the last four years." He said. My eyes widened. I turned to Gwenyth, my mouth agape.

"Wat?" I said. She shrugged.

"Remember the summer after 5th grade when I went to camp for a few weeks?" She asked.

"Ya and abandoned me for a summer of hell with my grandma on her North Carolina farm. I won't be forgetting anytime soon." I said bitterly.

"I'm really sorry you had to endure that. Really, but that camp I was at is really a camp for demigods. That's where we are going." She said. I looked to Granddad, who I guess I should start calling Apollo, who nodded.

"It isn't her fault, I told her to watch over you. You have to give her credit though, she was a brilliant actress." He said to me flipping down his shades. He tilted his head back towards Gwenyth. "By the way, I have a present waiting for you back at camp." He said as he started the engine.

We started driving down the beach until we took off, much like a plane. As we drove through the sky I noticed Grand- Apollo getting younger, until he looked to be around his mid twenties. It made me feel kinda uncomfortable, sitting next to a younger version of the guy who had been my grandfather my entire life. I suppose I would just have to adjust to all this godly stuff.

After what could have been minutes or hours of flying, we started our decent. At first all I saw were trees, then I noticed a small city of unique cabins. After the cabins was a field of camp activities, then a large manor house. It was white and reminded me of my grandmother's house. Apollo whistled what sounded like Coming Home by Diddy.

"Welcome to Camp. Your new home." He said quietly as we parked in a field. A bunch of campers in orange shirts rushed out of nowhere to great us.

"Welcome to camp half-blood! Your home away from home!"


	5. Welcome to Camp, Kiddies

Newbies, always so awkward. Well the good news is my kiddies won't be the only noobs here tonight, rumor has it that one of the major 12 guys was bringing two girls in today as well. It's just a rumor, but ya know, every rumor has a bit of truth.

They followed me up on deck. I think I heard a gasp or two escape as they saw how many fucking cabins there were. There were around 100, one for every greek god that had demigod children under the age of 18.

A ton of the cabins were just kinda empty. Only the cabins of the gods of Olympus were ever actually filled. Another 25 or so had more than one permanent occupant. Then maybe another 50 had annual summer campers. The remaining cabins were for gods so minor their kids weren't in any danger and could live normal lives.

The gangplank, that is a fancy boat word for the get off the boat ramp, was rolled up by two young campers. When I say young I mean like 8, super little kids. They were year round kids too, haven't been home in two years. But that means they are still more competent than the fifteen year olds on the deck behind me.

"Yo new kids! Follow me, we are going to get y'all checked out at the big house. Then we will announce all new arrivals at lunch." I said. I heard mutters behind me as we got off the boat. I walked towards the big house, which was literally a big white raised ranch.

We walked inside and were instantly swept into the infirmary. The new kids were being checked by Theo and Amy, two kids of Asclepius. I just stood around with the Kirbs and Austin waiting for some instruction. Somebody cleared their throat behind me.

I turned to see my brother Jack, standing in the doorway. Our father being the god of tons of stuff, including invention, Jack invented the Camp Half-Blood organisational system. That is, the filing system. He basically made sure everyones records were up to date and we knew where everyone was. He didn't really do anything but boss Athena kids around and slack off but he was still a pretty cool brother.

"Chiron needs to see your team now." He said offhandedly before leaving the room. I gestured behind me for Kirby and Austin to follow and flicked down my shades, I had to look cool wherever I went. I walked through the big house and into Chiron's office, where he stood talking to some people. The people were two girl around my age and a god, Apollo.

"Thank you for escorting them here." Chiron said to them. Apollo shrugged.

"No thanks needed, I'm always looking for excuses to see me children." He said. "It seems like you have some guest, so I'm gonna hit the road." He turned, brushing past me and my group.

"Hello. Meet our newest permanent residents, excluding your new recruits, Gwenyth and Gwen." Chiron said. Both the girls turned to me with their hands extended. When they saw I wasn't going to shake just nodded.

"Pleasure to meet all three of you. As Chiron just said, I'm Gwen and this is Gwenyth." The tall girl with glasses on her head said. The shorter one nodded.

"We're daughters of Apollo, how about you? And what are your names too?" Gwenyth said. I pushed my sunglasses onto my head to get a better look at them.

"Name's Valerie, call me Val. Daughter of Hermes. Behind me is my crew," I pointed behind me without turning.

"Kirby, daughter of Poseidon," Kirby laughed. She probably thought I was being ridiculously gangster.

"and Austin, son of Ares." I finished. Austin let out a quick and peppy 'hi'.

"Now girls you can leave, we have some things to talk a about. Gwenyth, why don't you take Gwen to your cabin and help her unpack?" Chiron said. Gwenyth nodded.

"Of course." She said, leaving the room with Gwen.

"Now, tell me how the mission went."


	6. Cabins Apollo, Athena, Iris and Hecate

**Gwenyth**

Gwen and I made our way over to the cabins, leaving the big house and the huge group of new campers that'd just arrived. Gwen was babbling on and on about how nice the weather was for January in New York and a few other things, but i couldn't be sure. She talked a mile a minute, and i wasn't really paying that much attention anyway. Too many thoughts were rushing through my head all at once.

Why would Chiron and Dad want us to pretend that Gwen is my half-sister? They said it was to 'protect her', but I don't know. Protect her from what? What happened while i was gone?

Dad mentioned something about a gift for me, but I can't think of what it could be. He said it'd be in the cabin, so it wasn't huge. I guess i could cross warship off the list.  
It was a reward though, and generally rewards are rather substantial. But rewards can be anything really. New furniture, remodeled cabin, a new weapon, a new set of armour, ect, ect.  
As we neared the center of the city of cabins, Gwen fell quiet, examining the buildings.  
We stopped in front of the Apollo cabin. The best cabin in my opinion, but that's probably super biased. The cabin always gave off a faint golden glow, and was probably the homiest of the cabins. It was warm and cozy and messy in a 'hey, I'm actually lived in' kind of way that made it feel all the more welcoming. In the noon sun the cabin gave off a warm golden glow. But the morning and evening it looked to be made of pure gold, it's glow reflecting the travel of the sun across the sky.  
A small smile tugging on my lips, I knocked on the door and it was immediately thrown open. We were met with the smiling face of one of my brothers, which caused my smile to grow into a grin.  
"They're here!" He called into the cabin. He opened the door wide to let us through. I slipped through the doorway, beckoning for Gwen to follow. Inside were four of my siblings, I had somewhere between 11 and 19 siblings all-together, but most of them were only summer campers. Even in the winter, the Apollo cabin had more campers than many of the others. Kids of minor gods rarely had this many siblings.  
"Hey guys! I'm Lewis, " Lewis introduced to Gwen, he was 18, tall, tan, blonde, the head counselor, and the guy who'd opened the door. He gestured to a girl that looked at little younger than him. She was average height with short blonde ringlets that hovered above her shoulders and blue-grey eyes. "This is Mariana." Mariana offered a smile and a wave. He gestured next to a girl who was probably about 11, with long, honey brown hair that was braided into low-set pigtails, and a camp shirt cut up and tied in a way that reminded me of girl scout camp, not that I ever attended one. "And Theresa," Finally, he pointed to the remaining boy, who looked about 8, with a mop of almost white blonde curls, pale blue , and a missing tooth "And lastly, Gerald. Gerald is our youngest brother, as far as we know." Lewis finished.  
"Well I'm Gwe-" i started. I was rudely interrupted by my little sister, Theresa.  
"Oh we know! You're Gwen and Gwenyth! It was written on the note that came from daddies present."She blurted out, pointing at a large gold object in the corner. Not that the gold was really out of place here. Brushing off her rudeness as a part of the age, I walked over and examined the new object.  
As it turns out, it was a grandfather clock. But, upon closer inspection, i found that it wasn't totally normal. Apart from it being what i assumed was solid gold, there was a miniature sun moving across a blue sky background behind the hands. It was currently at noon position, mimicking the sun just outside, perfectly in sync. It was amazing and totally perfect, but i had a hunch it did something more than tell time and give the position of the sun, something that i'd only be able to find when i actually need it. But no point in getting into that, there was a note attached that i still had to read. It went like this:  
"Dear Gwenyth,  
Great acting with Gwen, you could put a Muse to shame.  
~Love, Dad."

I smiled and tucked the note into the pocket of my skinny jeans as a temporary home. I stepped back and glanced around the area casually. As i skimmed the room, another little note caught my attention. This time it was a brightly colored sticky note, stuck to my bunk with my name written in big, curly letters. I walked over and leaned against the bunk, checking it out. It was a cool little nook of the cabin with shelves embedded into the walls and a bed that looked incredibly comfortable. The bottom shelves were already stacked with my comfort clothes; pj's, loose jeans, athletic shorts, and tee shirts. In the pile I noticed four or five orange camp shirts had been added. The top shelf was empty, but by the looks of my siblings shelves it was supposed to hold weapons and trophies. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Gwen lying on her bunk, staring at her nails for one reason or another. Pushing off my bunk, I walked over to hers, where she'd apparently already made herself at home. Boarding school will do that to you, makes adjusting to new places shockingly easy.  
"You wanna start walking to lunch?" I asked, noticing the rest of the cabin filtering out. She simply shrugged.  
"I think I will skip it. I'm not really hungry." She said dully. I cast her a worried look, staring her down for a minute.  
"You have to come though. This is the big welcome meal." I pressed, shifting myself so i was standing straight without removing my gaze. She groaned.  
"Fine, but go on without me. I want to change out of this dress, it is so not appropriate for camping." She said, rolling out of bed. All of my siblings were gone now.  
I glanced at her again before nodding and heading out myself.  
I walked casually to the dining pavillion to join the other campers.  
Lunch was less formal than dinner, obviously, so you didn't technically have to make a sacrifice. Also, all announcements came at the end, so I knew Gwen wouldn't miss anything; as long as she showed up, that is.  
I made my way over to the Apollo table and sat down at the end of the bench. I was seated next to Gerald and across from Mariana. I thought of what I wanted , a glass of water and pb&j, and it showed up in front of me, like it always does at camp. Magic plates or something, I've never really gotten a break down of how it works, but its pretty awesome.  
I ate quietly, occasionally adding a comment into my siblings conversations. But i spent most of lunch thinking. Things were changing, and life would be very different now, so I had a lot to think about.  
Up until now I had lived a relatively normal life. Sure it was grand and expensive and luxurious, but it wasn't godly. Now I would have to step it up. Money couldn't carry me anymore. People would judge me on my skills, my talents. There would be friends to make, love to find and quests to partake in. And danger, real live danger. Hell hounds and hydras and angry gods. Yeah, things were definitely going to change. But maybe that's a good thing.  
I'd known of my godly parentage for a while, and I've been to camp a few times before, but never year-round. And that left an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Usually campers only stayed year-round if they were in too much danger to leave, and that raised a lot of questions. Was I in danger? What the heck was going on around here? Chiron was definitely hiding something, but I had no idea what it could be.

**Elise**

After Amy, a daughter of Asclepius the God of medicine, gave me a quick check up and told me I could go I was quickly confused. I had no direction! I didn't know what I was doing! One of the girls who had just entered the room with a clipboard coughed.  
"Gods bless you." I said to her. She sighed.  
"I am here to give you all camp maps and the official Camp Halfblood welcome." She said, not in a very welcoming tone might I add.  
"You don't sound very welcoming." Amy chimed in from behind me. The girl glared at Amy.  
"Well ok. My name is Ingrid, head of the Athena cabin." She said. She detached a sheath of papers from her clipboard and passed on to each of my friends. I looked and saw it was a rather basic, but probably well scaled and accurate, map of the camp. You had everything a normal camp would have. You have your cabins, your pond, your climbing wall, your large expanse of woods and your pavilion. Then you had your not so normal camp things; forges, a fighting arena, a sword shed.  
"How will we know if we are at the right cabin?" Tiger said. Ingrid rolled her eyes.  
"You see how the cabins are arranged in U shapes of increasing size? At the ends of each U there is a list of cabins. Then the cabins are labeled with their godly parent." She said. She heaved another sigh. "Now go look meet your siblings, lunch is in like 45 minutes." She said leaving the room. We all looked to each other and shrugged. Rebecca lead the way out of the house and toward the Manhattan of cabins. I caught up and walked next to her.  
"How do you feel about this whole demigod thing?" I asked her. She squinted in the sun and shrugged.  
"Its pretty chill I guess. I mean my mom is the God of freaking rainbows and color and messages and that stuff is cool as crap." She said, completely serious. I nodded.  
"Guess it is pretty cool." I said as we approached the smallest U of cabins. I continued towards the women's side of the U in hunt for the Athena cabin while Becca went to find her cabin elsewhere. I stood in front of the architect's dream that was the Athena cabin and was immediately overwhelmed. What if my siblings didn't like me or didn't think I was smart enough for them? Not that I cared what they thought or anything. I raised my hand to knock on the door and it flew open.  
"OMG you must be Elise and Frankie! I'm Ashlee, come in." She said opening the door and allowing me, and evidently Frankie who had been following me. "You both have bunks downstairs with a stash of boot cut jeans and camp tee shirts that are waiting for you, but first let me give you the tour of our first floor. We have a desk devoted to just about every intellectual pursuit you could ever enjoy; architecture, urban planning, private design, computer programming and and a bit of robotics and automatons. Those last two we do in collaboration with the Hephaestus cabin." She said all in one long breath. As she named the different activities she pointed to its designated desk.  
"Where is everybody? Don't olympians have a bunch of children?" Frankie asked. Ashlee laughed.  
"Oh yeah. There are currently 47 living children of Athena, ranging from ages of a few months to seventy years old. Under the age of 21 there are 24, 17 of which have visited camp before. Including you two, there are 6 year round campers and 7 more summer campers. The remaining 4 no longer attend camp because the mortal world is safe enough for them." She said, her numbers feeling perfectly accurate. I nodded.  
"We met Ingrid up at the big house, and the three of us are here, so where are the remaining two year round campers?" I asked. She thought for a moment.  
"The two remaining campers would be the twins, Peter and Elliot. They have been making themselves a new set of miniature fighting monsters up at the forge. They are both 16, Ingrid is 19 and I'm 15." She said. She looked at her wrist and checked the time. "We should probably go get them, since it is almost lunch time."

**Tiger**

I walked towards the second U of cabins. And turned down the path. I walked past four cabins before reaching my destination, the Hecate cabin. To my surprise the door was already open. I knocked on it anyway and let myself in.  
The room appeared to be just huge mess of books. They were stacked to the ceiling and stuffed on bookshelves. It looked like there was only one clear path through the wreckage, so I followed the narrow corridor towards the back of the cabin. In the very back there was a desk with lots of little pieces of paper on top. The light of the room appeared to be sunlight, but there wasn't a source. At first glance there looked to be nobody in here, but I don't know, it felt like somebody was home.  
"Hello?" I called. I heard a thump from what sounded like upstairs, although though from the outside, there didn't appear to be an upstairs. I heard the sound of shoes to my left and turned. There was a girl, with blond hair and rosy skin standing in front of a ladder with her hand out.  
"Hi, you must be Tiger. I'm Maddie, your sister." She said, I shook her hand. She pointed to the ladder. "Lets go upstairs, I find it hard to focus in this mess." She said. She climbed the ladder and I followed directly behind her.  
The floor above us was lit entirely by candles, but it was still rather bright. There were six bunks and two large arm chairs.  
"So what's up with this place. It looked perfectly normal from the outside but is actually huge and has a second floor?" I asked. She laughed.  
"It has an attic and a basement too, but you can get the full tour later. This cabin is so enchanted. That's not the important part though. The important thing to get down is the magic stuff." We sat in the two arm chairs. "Being children of the goddess of magic, we can perform magical spells from all western cultures. The Romany, Native American, Nordic, Bavarian; and those are just a hand full. That is why we have so many books, we have to know it all. All this reading and spell casting is very tedious and rather private though, so we don't really get out much." She said. My face fell a bit.  
"So we don't get to fight with everybody else?" I asked. I had seen people fighting with swords and armor on my way in and I was more than a little disappointed by not being able to fight.  
"Oh we fight. We don't really have natural fighting talent though. We have charms for agility, strength, speed, endurance and basically everything you could ever need in a fight." She said. It didn't matter how good we were at fighting if we had magic on our side.  
"Do we get to use magic spells like in Harry Potter?" I asked. She sighed as if she had heard this question before.  
"No, but we can summon dogs. We can summon other animals too, if they are sacred to another god and that god allows us to summon them. Now that you have the general lowdown on our stuff, let me tell you about your family." She pointed at bunks.  
"I'm Maddie and my bunk is top on the left, I'm 16 years old from West Virginia. Below me is Joshua, 21 years old, spends about a week here every summer. Top right is Lilith, 12 years old, summer camper. Under her is Anthony, 9 years old, yet to visit camp. Top bunk in the back is for Emerald, 5 years old, yet to visit camp. Bottom back bunk is yours." SHe stood up and stretched. "We gotta get to lunch. Come on, I'll lead the way."

**Rebecca**

I knock on the door of the hippie rainbow cabin. It takes a moment but eventually the door opens. A guy dressed in army green and white leans in the doorway, contrasting with the look of the Iris cabin. He cracked a bit of a smile.  
"You must be Rebecca, I'm Dean. Come on in." He said. I stepped inside. Each wall was painted in a gradient rainbow. Five of the bunks had neon sheets, one blue, one pink, one red, one green and one orange. The remaining bunk had white sheets and a white entire cabin was illuminated by bright white ceiling lights.  
"So I'm your brother. I'm 15, I'm from Utah, I don't really care for all this rainbow crap. I'm younger than you by a few months, making you the oldest child of Iris. We have two little brothers and a little sister, triplets, none of them have been to camp. They are all 9 years old." He said, sitting down on the white bed. I looked at him. He snapped his fingers like he had remembered something. "Your bunk is the pink one, right above me."  
"Ok, but it's not like I have any stuff to put there." I said. He shrugged.  
"Mom will probably send you a care package with clothes and girl things by the time we come back from dinner." He said. I looked down at my outfit. I guess jeans, a tee and hoodie would have to work for whatever we are doing today. When didn't jeans work? The world may never know.  
"Is it time for lunch? I'm starving." I said. He nodded and stood.  
"Sure, lets head on up to the pavilion." And off we went.


	7. Falling, in more ways than one

**Hannah**

"Mal, did you hear about Ingrid and Lewis?" I said. She shook her head and popped a bite of orange in her mouth. She swallowed.  
"No, what's going on." My sister said. We were both daughters of Demeter, Irish twins. We had a ton of other siblings too but only five others were here year round. Violet, head counselor, 20 years old and dating Jeffery, head of the Dionysus cabin. Dylan, 17 years old, single even though he really shouldn't be. Rubin, 16, on again off again with Angel, a daughter of Aphrodite who was way to good for him. Then me, 15 years old and dating Noah, a son of Nike. Next is Malory, 14 and dating Jack, son of Tyche. Finally the twins Sally and Susan, the most evil 12 year olds in the entire world.  
"Well, Ashlee said that Ingrid has been coming home late recently." I said to her. Me and Mal were really big when it came to gossip around the camp. Someone might even say that we are better at it than the Aphrodite campers.  
"What makes you think its with Lewis. It could be with Ian from Hephaestus or Elliot from Hermes or even Dylan." She said. I shook my head.  
"We would notice if it was Dylan, and Val would have mentioned something about Elliot." I said. She nodded and swallowed another slice of orange.  
"Yeah and Ian doesn't seem like he would go for a book worm. He looks like he's into guys." I give her a look.  
"Why do you say that?" I asked.  
"I don't know he just seems like a butch." She said, finishing her orange. There was a large pounding from the Hermes table. I looked towards it to see Valerie standing on a bench.  
"Listen up, we got some new campers. Chiron is busy so I'm gonna announce them." She said. She cleared her throat. "Gwen and Gwenyth, Apollo; Francesca and Elise, Athena; Rebecca, Iris; Tiger, Hecate. Round of applause for them making it here without dying." She said. The entire pavilion clapped. Every started to get up, the announcement ending lunch, and heading back to their activities.  
"So we could spend the rest of the day singing Hannah Montana songs to plants..." Mal started.  
"Or we could go talk to the Apollo girls and get the lowdown on Lewis." I finished. She pointed at me as we started towards their table.  
"Hey Gwen." Malory called. They both turned in unison, one tall and one small.  
"What do you want." They stated, saying you as if it were a ball of slime. I don't think they were very friendly. The taller one was wearing black short shorts and a red v-neck. The smaller one was wearing red jeans and a white tank top.  
"We wanted to welcome you to camp." Mal said, coming up with a excuse quickly. They saw right through it.  
"What do you really want?" The short one said.  
"First I want to know which of your is which." Mal said. I nodded. The tall one spooky up.  
"I'm Gwen and this is Gwenyth. Now what. Do. You. Want." Gwen said forcefully.  
"I want you to spy on Lewis, your older brother. We think he might be sneaking out to see someone." I said. Mal nodded.  
"Like romantic seeking out or sinister sneaking out." Gwenyth asked, dropping her guard a bit.  
"Romantic. We are kinda in charge of secrets around here, so we would like for you to keep us posted." Mal said with a smile and a hair toss.  
"Oh we will, but we never got your names." Gwen said. I smiled and stuck out my hand.  
"Oh right! I'm Hannah and this is Mal." I said. With a smile. She shook my hand and Gwenyth shook Mal's.  
"Well we have to go. You know touring camp and everything." Gwenyth said with a smile. "We'll chat with you later." She said as she and Gwen turned and left, walking towards the weaponry.

**Gwen**

Actually, we didn't have anywhere to go. But if Gwenyth was done talking with them so was I. We walked towards the weaponry, why I didn't know. I wasn't planning on learning how to fight, but if Gwenyth was I sure as hell wasn't sticking around to watch her make a fool of herself with a sword.  
"Um Gwenyth? What are we doing?" I asked. She gave me a side glance.  
"We are going to start weapons training. I really need to choose a weapon of choice." She said. I rolled my eyes.  
"Why am I coming with you? I am way too delicate for fighting, and I don't want to just sit around doing nothing." I said. She gave an annoyed sigh.  
"You don't have to come with me. You could go push papers in the big house or go tinker in the forges, I really don't care." She said. I don't know what was up or if it was just PMS or something but I was going to let her sort it out.  
"Ok, I'll find something to do." I said. I turned and walked away from her, not really planning on going anywhere. I didn't really know my way around the camp and I just wandered until I found my way to the climbing wall. The dial on the side showed that it was turned off, but there was somebody climbing on it anyways.  
"What are you doing? The wall isn't even turned on." I said. To be honest I didn't actually know what happened when you turned on the climbing wall, but I wasn't in the mood to find out. The figure on the climbing wall belayed down and unhooked himself from the wall. They turned towards me, and they were attractive.  
"Well, I'm not really up to that much of a challenge yet. I haven't been here long." He said. He wicked a bead of sweat from his forehead. "Apparently neither have you. You're one of the new kids. Apollo?" He asked, sticking out his hand. I shook it.  
"Yeah. My name's Gwen. How about you? Son of...?" I left the question open ended. He smiled, showing perfect teeth and an altogether perfect smile.  
"Aphrodite. My name is Michael. Did you come here to climb the wall?" He said. He had fair skin, a blond flat top and sky blue eyes. Being a son of the love goddess probably made all the girls fall for him though.  
"Not really, I was just wondering, but since I'm here I might as well." I said. He picked a harness off the ground and tossed it to me. I threw it back. "I think I can do this, the pros don't need them." I said confidently.  
"Are you sure? You haven't done this before have you?" He said with what might have been concern.  
"Yeah I've climbed rock walls before, spot me and I'll be fine." I said. He smiled.  
"Of course." He responded. I started up the wall. Just don't look down. For the love of gods don't look down. I climbed till I was at the top. Then I risked looking down. Shit shit shit shit shit. I was high up.  
"Michell!" I yelled from my perch. "How do I get down?" I asked. He laughed.  
"That's what the belay was for!" He called with a bit of laughter in his voice.  
"Okay, I regret not taking the belay now. But seriously, how do I get down?" I asked. God I was afraid of falling. What nobody caught me? What if I landed on my head? What if I died? I thought I was going to have a panic attack.  
"You could climb, or you could jump. You're only about thirty feet up, I can catch you." He said. That was a slightly comforting thought, but I still couldn't jump.  
"What if I hurt you?" I called.  
"I'll be fine. If you don't jump I'll have a Poseidon kid fly up on Pegasus and bring you down." He said. I liked that idea, but I didn't know how long I could hold on.  
"Ok. I'm going to jump. Promise to catch me?" I asked again. He took on a serious expression.  
"I promise." He said. So I jumped. There was no feeling of flying, only terror. Then I was safely in Michael's arms. I opened my eyes and he was looking down at me. He put me down on the ground and sat in front of me.  
"You cool?" He asked. I nodded and got up. I couldn't fall for this guy. He was a son of Aphrodite and he was bound to either have ever girl fawning over him, or to be a Heartbreaker.  
"I'm great. I'm on solid ground and I'm alive. Thanks for catching me." I said quickly as I dusted myself off. "Talk to you later." I said over my shoulder as I walked towards my cabin. It couldn't be later than three but the sun was already low in the sky.  
I walked into my cabin to see the youngest of the Apollo campers sitting at a desk in the back of the room. I walked over and stood behind him. He looked to be writing in ancient Greek.  
"What are you doing Gerry?" I asked, pet naming him on the spot. He looked up at me.  
"Writing a poem." He said. I smiled.  
"Tell me about it."


End file.
